NEW PRA Supporting Statement Annual report renewal6-2006Final

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

PAPER REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Annual Report by Sponsors of J-1 Exchange Visitor Program

OMB # 1405-0151

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US. Department of State (DOS) administers the Exchange Visitor Program (J-Visa) under the provisions of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended. This program requires U.S. Government agencies and public and private organizations to report annually on a variety of educational and cultural exchange activities.

The Exchange Visitor Program Annual Report form provides a means for sponsoring organizations to report a summary of exchange visitor activity and an accounting of the number of Forms DS-2019 used. It also provides a means for the Department to maintain appropriate oversight of the Exchange Visitor Program.

This collection of information utilizes one form: DS-3097 – Annual Report Form.

2. The Exchange Visitor Program Annual Report Form (DS-3097) is used by United States Government agencies and public and private organizations to report annually exchange visitor activities to the Department of State. Approximately 1468 annual reports are received each year. The information provided is used to monitor and maintain appropriate oversight of the Exchange Visitor Program.

3. The Department is moving towards the annual report’s becoming an electronic form. Currently sponsors can run an annual report electronically, but must print the form to be signed and mailed to the Department. The Department has been working in close cooperation with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meet the legislative mandate established by Subtitle D, Section 641 of the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) (P.L. 104-208), whereby the Attorney General was mandated to develop an electronic system to collect and submit information on non-immigrants entering the United States on F, J, and M visas.

The electronic system, known as SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System), was fully implemented in August 2003. The annual report was part of this newly developed system, however many electronic glitches occurred from the onset. Therefore, the Department allowed sponsors to create the annual report either electronically or manually. In a recent SEVIS update in December 2005, the statistical reporting on the annual report was updated to report correctly the number of new forms issued annually. In building the new electronic version of the annual report, we may need to amend Form DS-3097 to conform to SEVIS terms.

It is expected that when the collection of electronic signatures and official documents is in place in SEVIS, this process will also move to a completely electronic format. This will enable us to better serve the public and will reduce administrative and financial burdens on the Department of State for the reproduction costs and time necessary to maintain information and mail the forms. The ability to provide information electronically will also reduce the administrative and financial burdens on the sponsors when submitting their annual report.

4. Designated sponsors are required to file this one form annually. This information is not otherwise available.

5. This collection does not have significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses or other small entities.

6. If the collection of information is not conducted, the Department could not administer the Exchange Visitor Program. We would not be able to monitor existing sponsors who administer exchange programs. In addition, there would be no means for a designated sponsor to reconcile the use of Forms DS-2019 and request additional forms.

7. There are no special circumstances. The collection of information indicated on the annual report form is an annual submission, filed either on an academic, calendar or fiscal year basis, as directed by the Department in its letter of designation.

8. We received three public comments that relates to monitoring of exchange participants and accuracy of the current SEVIS annual report. The comments did not relate to the components of the paper Form DS-3097. No action is taken at this time. We will address the statistical portion of the annual report as we move forward to build Form DS-3097 in SEVIS.

9. Respondents are not provided with any gifts or payments.

10. There is no assurance of confidentiality provided.

11. There are no questions of a sensitive nature included in the data required on the annual report form (DS-3097).

12. The number of responses expected for the Form is approximately 1,460 annually. The respondents complete the form annually. This form takes approximately 1 hour to complete.

13. There is no additional cost to the respondents as the Department is continuing with the same information and procedures already required in the existing annual report regulations. We have not identified any other additional costs. As this data collection is an element of program administration, other costs that may potentially be incurred are not included as such costs are part of customary and usual business practices or are related to regulatory compliance requirements not associated with this information collection.

14. It is anticipated that 8 full-time employees (six program officers and two program coordinators) will devote no more than 10% of their time annually to receipt, data entry, tracking, and review of the annual reports and to maintaining information in office files and databases. With an annual average salary of $480,220 per employee at 10% time ($65,078 average annual salary for program officer and $44,876 average annual salary for program coordinator), the annualized estimated cost to the Federal government to conduct this information collection is estimated to be $48,022. Costs for equipment, overhead, printing or other costs associated with the processing of this information collection are expected to be negligible.

15. Additional burden hours for Form DS-3097 reflect the additional reporting of information and gathering of supporting documentation necessary for compliance with regulatory changes adopted in 1993.

16. The Department does not plan to publish the information.

17. The Department plans to display the OMB expiration date.

18. The Department is not requesting any exceptions to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of OMB Form 83-I.

2. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS.

Items 1-5 are not applicable. This collection does not employ statistical methods.